The present invention relates to machines for packing cigarettes or any like rod-like articles, and has for its object an automatic feeder device for charging the full trays over the hopper of said packing machines, and for discharging the empty trays from said hopper, by the aid of a tray-carrying casing provided with a gate for closing the tray mouth, and with tray-molding means cooperating with the bottom of the tray.
The invention has for its object to realize an automatic feeder device of the aforementioned type, presenting a simple, sturdy and not too cumbersome construction, and guaranteeing a safe and sufficiently quick operation.
According to the invention, this object is attained by the provision of an automatic feeder device of the above mentioned type comprising a path for the feeding of the full trays, which is directed towards the hopper, and a path for the discharge of the empty trays, which is arranged below the tray-feeding path and is directed away from the hopper, a loading-and-unloading inclined frame being so provided that its longitudinal side members extend laterally to the paths for the feeding and the discharge of the trays, in the forward upward direction as far as above the inlet opening of the hopper, which frame is mounted for a swinging movement around a transversely extending axis, so that it is alternately caused to assume two angular positions: a less inclined position in which its fore end is lowered toward the inlet opening of the hopper, and another more inclined position in which its fore end is lifted up from the inlet opening of the hopper, the tray-carrying casing being so mounted as to be longitudinally slidable, and at the same time rotatable around an axis transversely extending between the longitudinal side members of the loading/unloading frame; actuation and control means being provided, which determine the following operation:
Starting from a position in which the loading/unloading oscillating frame is located in the angular position in which its upper fore end is at a lower level, and the tray-carrying casing is disposed in the overturned advanced position, so that it keeps the tray with its downwardly turned open mouth over the inlet opening of the hopper, after the said tray has been emptied, the loading/unloading frame is moved into the angular position in which its upper fore end is at a higher level, whereby the tray-carrying casing is lifted up from the hopper inlet opening, whereupon the tray-carrying casing is caused to descend, that is to say, to run back in the downward direction along the said frame, and it is at the same time caused to rotate about itself around the transversely extending axis, so as to set again the empty tray in upstanding position. On completion of this rotational movement of the tray-carrying casing, the tray-holding means are de-actuated, whereby the empty tray falls out of the tray-carrying casing, down onto the tray-discharge path, while the tray-carrying casing continues its downward movement along the loading/unloading inclined frame, until it engages the first full tray at stand-by on the tray-feeding path, and withdraws this tray through the activation of the tray-holding means. Subsequently, the tray-carrying casing is caused to go up, that is to say, it runs forwardly upward on the inclined loading-and-unloading frame while being simultaneously rotated, at least temporaneously, about itself around the transversely extending axis, whereby the so supported full tray is capsized and its closed mouth is turned downward. When the tray-carrying casing is located in the advanced over-turned position over the inlet opening of the hopper, the loading/unloading oscillating frame is swung into its angular position in which its upper fore end is at a lower level, thus bringing down the tray-carrying casing over the inlet opening of the hopper, whereupon the mouth of the tray will be opened.
The feeder device of the invention can be used in any packing machines, particularly also for placing only one full tray over he inlet opening of the hopper, and for removing the said tray after is has been emptied, and for replacing same with another full tray. In this case, the inlet opening of the hopper has a width substantially corresponding to the width of one tray.
Preferably, however, and in a particularly advantageous manner, the device according to the invention is used for carrying out the feeding method according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,633. This method consists in placing over the inlet opening of a hopper having a width which is twice the width of a conventional hopper, two trays set into an aligned relation across the width thereof, and in alternately allowing the descent of the cigarettes into the hopper in correspondence of only one of said trays, until this tray is emptied, while in the meantime the previously emptied tray is replaced by a full tray. In this case, two feeder devices according to the invention are associated with the hopper in a side-by-side relation, and each one of these devices is associated to one half of the hopper.